Communication tagging

ABSTRACT

A communication system including a database adapted to store communication tag information; and a database agent. The database agent is adapted to determine if a communication has a task tag. The database agent is adapted to transfer predetermined communication tag information of the task tag of the communication to the database. The database agent is adapted to automatically send a communication based upon information stored in the predetermined communication tag information.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a method of tagging communications to provideautomatic database capabilities, thus facilitating the management ofproject deliverables and tasks. The database capabilities can includeactivation, tracking, reporting, evaluation, and disposition of theproject tasks.

BACKGROUND

Communication, whether email, instant message, or phone, forms the basisthat individuals, team leaders, and managers use to coordinate projectsand track progress of their projects. Moving from the communication togenerating progress reports is a manual process. While projectmanagement packages such as Microsoft Office exist, they are notsufficiently integrated into the communication infrastructure. Thus, thedata required by such programs needs to be entered manually based on thecommunication that occurs between the project participants. Further,there is no ability to verify that the task is entered correctly.

It is important in the workplace to be able to track both individual andteam progress. Tracking and reporting deliverables and tasks decided onvia communication among individuals is critical to teams and individualswho need to summarize and present their work periodically to others,including 1) team leaders and project leaders who need to understand andbe able to act and react to changes in project status, and 2) projectmanagers who need to decide where to allocate resources. Existing in themarketplace today are 1) simple calendar programs that provideindividuals with the ability to add action items such as calendarentries and to generate reminders for action items and 2) Programs likeMicrosoft Project, which can provide project managers with the status ofa project. Neither of these existing programs, nor other such programs,are well integrated into common forms of communication in the workplace.

Today, many methods of communication exist in the workplace. Thesemethods include regular mail, telephone calls, and electroniccommunications which can take the form of electronic mail messages andinstant messages. However, the integration of these communicationmethods into the ability to aid in task tracking is minimal. Somecapabilities, such as automatic calendar updates upon invitationacceptance, exist in programs such as Lotus Notes, but for the mostpart, tracking of progress on individual, team, and project tasks,whether human or computer-generated or accomplished, is done outside thescope of the communication itself.

Many of the functions described here and in the examples below occur inconventional systems in ad hoc and manual ways. There is a desire tocoordinate these functions with the use of an automatic agent thatunderstands tagged communications to significantly facilitate theeffectiveness of individuals, team leaders, and managers and, thus,increase overall project performance.

SUMMARY OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The foregoing and other problems are overcome, and other advantages arerealized, in accordance with the presently preferred embodiments ofthese teachings.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a communicationsystem is provided including a database adapted to store communicationtag information; and a database agent. The database agent is adapted todetermine if a communication has a task tag. The database agent isadapted to transfer predetermined communication tag information of thetask tag of the communication to the database. The database agent isadapted to automatically send a communication based upon informationstored in the predetermined communication tag information.

In accordance with one method of the present invention, a method forautomatically tracking progress of a task on a computer networkconsisting of one or more users on a plurality of computer systems, themethod comprising the steps of tagging a communication to be deliveredbetween the computer systems over the network to form a taggedcommunication; and acting on the tagged communication automatically by adatabase agent.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a system fortracking tasks is provided comprising a communication system adapted toattach a task tag to a communication; and a tracking system separatefrom a communication sending computer and a communication receivingcomputer. The tracking system is adapted to automatically enterpredetermined information of the task tag of the communication into adatabase.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method oftracking tasks is provided comprising sending a communication; attachinga task tag to the communication; recording, by an automatic databaseagent, at least a portion of data in the task tag into a database; andautomatically sending a communication by the automatic database agentbased, at least partially, on the data in the task tag.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a programstorage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodied in a program ofinstructions executable by the machine to perform method steps fortracking tasks is provided, the method comprising steps of searching afirst communication to determine if the first communication has a tasktag, the task tag comprising a task topic and a task progress; andautomatically sending a second communication by an automated databaseagent based upon data in the task tag.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a programstorage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodied in a program ofinstructions executable by the machine to perform method steps fortracking tasks is provided, the method comprising steps of creating acommunication; and attaching a task tag to the communication comprisinga task topic and a task progress.

It is an aspect of this invention to establish a method for taggingcommunications. It is another aspect of this invention to track taskprogress at the individual, team, and project level. It is anotheraspect of this invention to report on task progress at the individual,team, and project level. It is another aspect of this invention to allowautomatic database agents to activate task communication at theindividual, team, and project level. It is another aspect of thisinvention to allow and track the negotiation of task properties, such astime to task completion and task name, among the participants in thetask and the interaction of these tasks with other related tasks. It isanother aspect of this invention to allow and track the merging of tasksas decided by participants in the task. It is another aspect of thisinvention to allow and track the division of tasks into multiple tasksas decided by participants in the task. It is another aspect of thisinvention to allow the ability to monitor task deadline and proactivelysend communication to participants in the task.

This invention allows for the addition of an optional tag to electroniccommunications that facilitates collaboration among individuals, teams,managers, and computer systems. For example, in electronic mail (email)communications, Lotus Notes currently allows one to tag electronic mailas a calendar invitation. An additional automatic database agent is alsodescribed to process the tagged email. The agent, via the aforementionedtags, creates entries in the database and takes actions as required bythe entries. These actions include sending an evaluation email to anindividual or collaborator upon expected completion of a task and thenincorporating that evaluation back into the database. Other actionsinclude collating completed tasks, initiating an evaluation email,generating reports, allowing negotiating among the collaborators of thetask deliverables such as time to task completion, allowing merging ofproject data if one or more tasks are merged into a single task,allowing division of project data if a task is split into one or moretasks, and the ability to monitor the interactions of the collaboratorsand proactively request task status. In addition to communications amonghumans, this invention allows tagged communications to be sent tocomputer systems to obtain information such as computer usage at aremote site, manufacturing yield, customer purchasing patterns, and anydata pertinent to a given project stored remotely on a computer system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other aspects of these teachings are made more evidentin the following Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments, whenread in conjunction with the attached Drawing Figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of steps used in the prior art for communication;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing steps used comprising features of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a computer generated window display for composingand sending an email;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a computer generated window display for enteringtask tag information into an email;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a communication system coupling an Initiator to areceiver;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an automatic database agent and a databaseincorporating features of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of another feature of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of another feature of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a reporting feature of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Communication among participants in a project is typically initiated byone of the participants (an Initiator), who directs the communication toone or more remaining participants (a receiver). FIG. 1 shows an exampleof prior art showing communication among participants. When an Initiatorsends communication as illustrated by block 10 there is a server throughwhich that communication proceeds as indicated by block 12. Depending onthe communication type (email, phone, instant message) there may bemultiple servers between the Initiator and the receiver, and they can beat different places in the communication path. When a server receivesthe communication initiation it either sends it to a server closer tothe end receiver(s) 16, 17, or sends it directly to the end receiver(s)16, 17, such that the server(s) act as agent(s) to forward thecommunication to the specified receivers or recipients as indicated byblock 14.

Referring now to FIG. 2, for the method provided by the presentinvention, FIG. 2 shows that when an Initiator opens a communication, asindicated by block 18, there are several optional tag properties thatmay be set. While we describe a particular set of tags here for thecommunication initiation, and later for other aspects of the invention,it is within the spirit of the invention if additional tags are used.Though the invention is not limited to the following describedimplementation, this implementation demonstrates the potentialadvantages of using the invention over other mechanisms.

Referring also to FIG. 3, there is shown an example of a display on acomputer screen. More specifically, the display 30 is a entry window forcomposing and sending an email. Other types of window displays forcomposing and sending emails are known in the art, and the presentinvention could be incorporated in such other email communicationprograms. The present invention could also be incorporated into otherelectronic communication types, such as. instant messaging (IM). In theembodiment shown in FIG. 3, the window display includes conventionalitems such as a Send icon 32, a Save icon 34, an Attach File icon 36, anOptions icon 38, a To icon 40, a To entry field 42, a CC icon 44, a CCentry field 46, a Subject field 48, and a message field 50. The displaywindow 30 could comprise additional or alternative fields or icons. Thewindow 30 also comprises a Task Tag icon 52. When the user selects theTask Tag icon 52, another entry window 54, shown in FIG. 4, pops up.

The task tag entry window 54 generally comprises a deliverable orproject field 55, a task topic field 56, a time to task field 58, a taskprogress field 60, a reminder interval field 62, a collaborator typefield 64, a task priority field 66, an OK icon 68, a Clear icon 70, anEdit Defaults icon 72, and drop-down field selection icons 74. The usercan enter tag information into the fields 55-66 or select taginformation to be entered into the fields by use of the drop-down menuswhen icons 74 are used. The one or more of the fields 55-66 could havedefault information automatically filled in. The default values can bechanged by use of the Edit Defaults icon 72. After the information isentered into the fields 56-66, the user can select the OK icon 68 toreturn to the window 30 shown in FIG. 3. The subject field 48 could beautomatically filled in with the information entered in the task topicfield 56. FIG. 4 merely shows an example of a task tag entry field.Other designs and additional or alternative entry fields could beprovided. One or more of the fields could have a limited entry feature,such as limiting the collaborator type to a single type or limiting thetask topic to predefined task topics from the drop-down menu.

The task topics for the task topic field 56 are preferably subcategoriesor subprojects of the deliverable or project in the project field 55.The project field 55 could be automatically filled, such as when a useris only working on one project. The task topic field 56 could beautomatically filed, such as when a user is only working on one task ofa project. The user can enter a deliverable or project in the projectfiled 55 or select the project from a drop down list. For example, theproject could be delivering a product to a customer and the task topicscould comprise subprojects such as design of the product, bidding fromsubcontractors to deliver goods to make the product, assembly of theproduct, various quality control checks of the product, and delivery ofthe product to the customer. This is only an example. A deliverable orproject could comprise hundreds of task topics for that project.Tracking of the deliverable or project could be monitored by trackingthe task topics.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the choices available for the tagproperties or tag setting are set by the Initiator as indicated by block20. This can be done when the user creates an email and uses the TaskTag icon as described above. The task tag properties or settings caninclude:

-   -   task topic;    -   time to task completion;    -   task progress;    -   reminder interval;    -   collaborator type; and    -   task priority.

The tag properties or setting could include less, or additional, oralternative properties or setting. The task topic identified the task orproject. This is used for correlating the email with other informationor emails related to the same task topic. The time to task completioncan be a specific date or can be a relative date of when a task of thetask topic is expected to be completed. The task progress setting caninclude progress identifiers for the progress of the task of the tasktopic. For example, choices for the task progress could include‘previous’, ‘new’, ‘in-progress’, ‘complete’, ‘other’, ‘merge’,‘separate’. This could be provided through a pull-down menu. In thecollaborator type setting, the Initiator can identify himself or herselfaccording to a collaborator type. The collaborator type can include, forexample, choices such as ‘individual’, ‘collaborator’, ‘team leader’,‘manager’, ‘senior manager’, ‘vice-president’, ‘CEO’, ‘CIO’,‘contractor’. This could be provided through a pull-down menu. The taskpriority can be used to prioritize the task of the task topic relativeto other tasks. For example, the task priority setting could include,choices such as ‘low priority’, ‘high priority’, ‘urgent’, ‘ASAP’,‘performance review’. This could be provided through a pull-down menu.

As seen with reference to FIG. 5, the Initiator 19 is able tocommunicate with the receiver(s) 16, 17 by a communication system 76.The communication system 76, for the email embodiment being described,could be any suitable type of email communication system including anintranet system and/or an Internet system. The communication system 76preferably comprises a server 78. The server 78 could alternatively belocated at the Initiator 19, or at the receiver 16, 17, or at anotherremote location. Referring also to FIG. 6, the server includes anautomatic database agent 80 and a database 82. The computers of thereceiver and Initiator could comprise their own database agent 80 anddatabase 82. The database agent 80 is adapted to determine if an emailsent from the Initiator to the receiver(s) 16, 17 comprise a task tag.If the email has a task tag, the database agent is able to store atleast a portion of the information of the task tag into the database 82.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the communication arrives at theserver/database 78, as indicated by block 22, where the automaticdatabase agent 80 sees the tag and its properties, stores the entirecommunication or at least portions of the information in the tag, andcan adjust the reminder interval as indicated by block 24. The agent 80stores this communication by the task topic in the tag of thecommunication, so that future messages with the same task topic may beassociated with this task. As illustrated by block 26, the agent 80forwards the communication to the specified recipients, such as Receiver1 16 and Receiver 2 17. The database agent 80 is adapted to automaticsend reminder communications, such as by email for example, to some orall individuals associated with the task topic at time intervals set bythe reminder interval.

Referring now also to FIG. 7, a method for automatic task updating viacommunication tagging will now be described. When responding or sendinga follow-up communication, there is an opportunity in the exchange ofcommunications among the participates to update the tag properties(i.e., negotiation). When the communication arrives at theserver/database as indicated by block 88, as indicated by block 90 theagent 80 sees the tag, stores the communication, and sets the value ofthe reminder interval. The agent forwards this communication tospecified recipients, shown for example as Initiator and Receiver 2 asindicated by block 92.

In FIG. 7, one of the Receivers, Receiver 1, is shown responding to theinitial communication from the Initiator 19 with a follow-up or replycommunication. Receiver 1 posts a new communication as indicated byblock 84. Receiver 1, as indicated by block 86, can update if necessarythe tag settings on the communication. The tag settings include and arenot limited to the following: 1. task progress, that can be set withsettings that include ‘previous’, ‘new’, ‘in progress’, ‘complete’,‘other’, ‘merge’, ‘separate’. 2. time to task completion, 3. task topic,4. collaborator type, that can be set with settings that include‘individual’, ‘collaborator’, ‘team leader’, ‘manager’, ‘seniormanager’, ‘vice-president’, ‘CEO’, ‘contractor’. An important aspect oftask updating that makes implementing the database agent tractable, isthat during an update communication the tag associated with the initialcommunication can be automatically filled in (or chosen from a set ofthem). Providing the tag with the communication provides a mechanism bywhich the database agent 80 can associate communications with a giventask. The initial communication can be stored on the server associatedwith the receiver (who is now responding) or on the computer of thereceiver. With this type of embodiment, it is possible to provide thetag of the initial communication to the receiver when the receiver iscreating the follow-up or reply communication.

In a preferred method, when a task is first opened, the user sets taskprogress to ‘new’; the time to task completion is set to a specifiedtime, the ‘task topic’ is entered, the ‘reminder interval’ is set, andthe collaborator type is indicated from among the choices provided. Theagent 80 can identify this communication according to the ‘task topic’.The agent 80 can then file the communication and all subsequentcommunications with the same ‘task topic’ in the same location in thedatabase 82. If the user is opening a task that is associated with apreviously-closed (that is, ‘complete’) task, the user sets the taskprogress tag to ‘previous’. At this point, a pull-down menu can appearwith a list of complete tasks, and the user can select the appropriatetask topic from the menu. The communication associated with this task isfiled by the database agent 80 in the database 82 with othercommunications identified with the same task topic (the same informationin the task topic field 56). In one type of alternate embodiment, theemail communication system could be configured to automatically open thetask tag entry window 54 when the user starts to create an email orcreate an email to a person in the same company. This automatic pop-upof the task tag entry window 54 could insure that entry of data into thetask tag entry window 54 is more likely to. occur and, thus, be attachedto emails.

Recipients can respond to communications received. To open a responsecommunication to an existing initial communication such as the ‘new’ onedescribed above, the user opens a task and sets the task progress to ‘inprogress’. At this point, the task topic bar can become a selectablelist of all database tasks associated with this individual. As describedabove, the database can store each communication according to the namesof the individuals listed in the communication. The user can selects theappropriate ‘task topic’ from the list provided from the databasesearch. A list of sub-tasks for the ‘in progress’ task then appears inthe task bar. The list of sub-tasks associated with each ‘in progress’task includes but is not limited to the following: 1. Constraint; 2.Dependency; 3. Reject; 4. Reassign; 5. Meeting; 6. Other. In a preferredembodiment, a recipient who has a higher priority compared with theindividual who opened the new task (for example, a manager compared withan employee) can change the task priority to a different option with thepull-down menu; negotiation with the employee is therefore permitted.Similarly, the task duration can be adjusted by a recipient who has ahigher priority compared with the individual who opened the new task.

If the user selects sub-task ‘constraint’, a window can appear in whichthe user can write a brief description of a new constraint that hasappeared in the task.

If the user selects sub-task ‘dependency’ a window can appear allowingthe user to indicate the item or person the user is waiting dependent onin order to make progress. If the user wishes to indicate that a personis impeding progress the user can input the identity (for example, emailaddress) of the appropriate person, at which point that person can beautomatically contacted by the database agent 80.

If the user selects sub-task ‘reject’, the communication can be sentback to the Initiator indicating that the user has rejected the assignedtask.

If the user selects sub-task ‘reassign’, a window can appear in whichthe user can optionally indicate the identity of the person to whom theuser suggests the task be reassigned (e.g., email address), and thecommunication can be sent to the Initiator indicating that the userrecommends that the task be reassigned.

If the user selects sub-task ‘meeting’, a window can appear in which theuser can optionally suggest a date, time, and place for a meeting todiscuss the subject identified in the ‘task topic’, and a communicationcan be sent by the database agent to all individuals associated with thetask.

If the user selects sub-task ‘other’, a window can appear in which theuser can optionally write a brief description of the category, and thedatabase agent can forward this communication to all individualsassociated with this task.

The present invention can provide a mechanism for proactively remindingusers about impending tasks. FIG. 8 illustrates this process. At taskinitiation time (i.e., when the Initiator's communication is sent asshown in FIG. 2), a reminder interval was set. This reminder intervalcan be used to send a reminder when the task is supposed to be complete.Reminder intervals can be stored as the date and time on which they aredue. If the Initiator specifies a week from now, that gets translatedinto the current day and time plus seven days, and gets stored as thedate and time on which the reminder needs to be sent. If it is a onetime reminder it is simply stored. If it is a recurring reminder it canbe stored with an indication of how many more reminders need to be sent(and then when it comes due the above calculation is re-performed andthe task is stored again). The task can be stored by the agent on theserver associated with the receiver (the user who is to be reminded).The agent can track all upcoming reminders (which can be specified bydate, or by date and time). The agent can be run periodically (forexample, via a cron job) and whenever new communication arrives at theserver of the receiver.

When the agent 80 runs, the agent examines the list of upcomingreminders and determines if any of them need to be sent (i.e., thecurrent time is greater than or equal to that on the reminder). Theagent can send out the reminder to whomever the Initiator indicated.When the reminder interval elapses as indicated by block 94, a reminderwill arrive at the server/database as indicated by block 96. The agent80 sees the reminder as indicated by block 98 and sends a reminder, suchas an email, as indicated by block 100. In the example in FIG. 8, thisis Receiver 1, Receiver 2, and the Initiator. Participants can respondto this reminder as indicated by block 102 with update communications asdescribed above, and both the reminder and successive responses canarrive at the server/database as indicated by block 104 where the agentsees the tag and its properties, and stores the communication or atleast the portions of the tag as indicated by block 106.

A method for report generation will now be described with reference toFIG. 9. Reports could be generated by deliverables or projects, by tasktopics, by a person responsible for a task topic, or any other suitabletype of criteria contained in the communication or email tag, or inemail fields. When a user requests a report as indicated by block 108,the report request arrives at the server/database as indicated by block110. The report request would need to specify one or more task topics.The agent sees the request and tag, and sorts communications accordingto task topic as indicated by block 112. The agent can then generate thereport as indicated by block 114 and send it to the participants whoreceive the report as indicated by block 116.

The agent 80 on the requesting server can take several actions. Theagent 80 can first determine all the users that have receivedinformation pertinent to report task. It can do this by maintaining alist of all users that have received communications regarding the task.This list can be created at initiation time and modified on each updatecommunication. When a report is requested, the agent 80 on therequesting server can send out messages to agents 80 on each servercontaining users on the list of those who have received communicationabout this task. As an optimization, a request to an agent 80 for userson the same server may be collapsed into a single message. The receivingagent can respond by sending all stored communications about the requesttask topic back to the requesting agent. Each communication that is sentout can be tagged with a unique identifier. The unique identifier can bea tuple that contains the unique identification of the serverconcatenated with a unique identifier for a specific communication. Inthis manner, duplicate messages to multiple receivers may be reduced tothe single unique instance.

There can be several options available when generating a report. Thereport requester can specify the report to contain any of the following,for example,:

-   -   communications about a specific project or deliverable;    -   communications about a specific task, such as sorted by user,        date, etc.,    -   only the final status of the task, or    -   any other relevant significant criteria, such all the        reassignments or all the constraints.

The agent does not need to include in the report communications forwhich the requester did not have the proper access credentials.Depending on the mode of operation, the information can be either justomitted, or a message indicating additional information was unavailableis placed in the report instead of the information. After the report hasbeen generated, it can be sent to the requester of the report as well asany other recipients specified by the requester. A report generationevent is added to a log of all tasks associated with the report.

An option for the task participants is to specify the seniority of theparticipants. For example, a project may decide that although allproject participants are able to post communications, only projectmanagers are able to request reports.

The invention also allows for the merging of one or more project tasks.For example, if at some point during the project the projectparticipants decide to merge one or more tasks, the agent can mergeappropriate communications of these multiple task topics. The method bywhich this is accomplished can be as follows: The Initiator opens a taskand sets ‘task progress’ to ‘merge’. A pull-down menu can then appearand the Initiator can select the tasks that are to be merged into thistask. The database agent can then merge all information associated withthis list of tasks in the location of the task chosen by the Initiator.

The invention also allows for the division of a project task into two ormore tasks. For example, if at some point during the project the projectparticipants decide to separate one task into two or more tasks, theagent can separate the task and new task topics appropriately. Themethod by which this is accomplished can be as follows: The Initiatoropens a task and sets ‘task progress’ to ‘separate’. A window can appearin which the Initiator can enter the names of the new tasks that followfrom this existing task. All recipients can be informed by the databaseagent of the existence of the new separate tasks.

The invention also allows for the addition of additional projectparticipants and for the removal of project participants as necessary.The invention also allows for permissions to be associated with tasks.For example, some users may not be allowed to see the communication ofall other users. Examples of applications of this invention are nowdescribed.

EXAMPLE 1

At periodic intervals, individuals take on tasks as part of their jobresponsibilities. These tasks frequently appear via electroniccommunication with other individuals, managers, or remote collaborators.Currently, one needs to obtain this information by manually recording,tracking progress, remembering to follow-up and evaluate, andsummarizing the tasks, and consequently this information is availableonly to the one who performed this manual work. With the presentinvention, simply checking the tag on a communication button will allowthese tasks to be performed in an automated fashion; moreover theresults are able to be accessed by any of the individuals, managers, andcollaborators who are participating in the tasks. An electroniccommunication can be initiated by an individual wishing to trackprogress on their own tasks for periodic, such as end-of-year,reporting. Furthermore, checking the tag on a communication button willcause the database agent to log, or register, the task, automaticallyask for progress on aforesaid task, and at a specified negotiable timecan create a report of all such tasks. The invention providesinformation that previously could only be obtained with a great deal ofmanual effort. With the present invention this gathering or informationstreamlines and simplifies the employee's responsibility, provides amethod to ensure that project managers' expectations and employees'expectations are in agreement during the duration of a task, and alsoyields more accurate reports.

EXAMPLE 2

A team leader can tag communications that are sent to team members aspart of the project. As in the previous example, the database agent willrecord the communications, and will automatically ask members forprogress and evaluation of the task. Therefore the team leader will beable to ask for a status report on tasks in this project at any time.

EXAMPLE 3

A project manager can tag communications when tasks are assigned toemployees. This invention allows an importance factor to be assigned tosaid task, and. managers can take advantage of this mechanism toprioritize tasks and, thus, create a prioritized list of tasks thatspecifies the order in which employees will accomplish the tasks. Moresenior managers may be allowed to assign greater importance values. Aswith the team leader example, a manager can generate a task statusreport.

EXAMPLE 4

Consider a project in which a team is working toward a goal to increasethe chip yield at a fabrication plant. As in the example above, amanager may assign global tasks that need to be accomplished for thenext experiment in increasing the yield. These global tasks may, inturn, be assigned to team leaders who delegate individual tasks toemployees, where the individual tasks attack individual pieces of theglobal task. Employees can use the agent to track tasks that they haveto accomplish. Moreover, the invention allows the tagged communicationsto be processed by a remote system, which in this case is one or morecomputers and associated storage capability that are tracking the yieldon the fabrication line. Tagged communications can be created by eachemployee when the employee accomplishes a task to identify how theirsuccessful task completion has affected the overall yield at the plant.Similarly, after each phase of the project, as defined at the outset bythe manager and possibly renegotiated periodically, the database agentcould automatically send a tagged communication to the computerstracking yield at the fabrication plant, receive a response, andsummarize that result in conjunction with a list of tasks that have beenaccomplished by the employees.

The present invention provides a mechanism to allow participants in aproject to tag their communications. This allows a database toautomatically perform any of the following:

-   -   track task activation,    -   generate reports,    -   track tasks evaluation,    -   track negotiation of task deliverables and deadlines,    -   allow merging of one or more tasks into a single task,    -   allow dividing of one task into two or more separate tasks,    -   be proactive by monitoring task deadlines and reminding task        participants of upcoming obligations.

This invention can be used to obtain project status reports on demandwithout the need to contact project participants individually, whichotherwise would be a time-consuming and tedious process. This inventionoffers the ability to manage projects more effectively by automatingmanual efforts allowing project workers to focus more time on completingtasks.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for automatically tracking progress of atask on a computer network consisting of one or more users on aplurality of computer systems, the method comprising: tagging acommunication to be delivered between the computer systems over thenetwork to form a tagged communication; and acting on the taggedcommunication automatically by a database agent of an apparatus wherethe tagged communication includes a telephone message converted toelectronic communication with the use of voice-recognition software.